How competitive is Teach for America?

frazzled1
Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:00:39 +0000

Lots of Ivy League kids that might have otherwise gone to Wall Street are trying to do TFA because it looks good on a resume and might help in certain grad school applications.

Although the number of applications from all schools is up, TFA has always attracted a large number of Ivy and top-tier grads, even before the current recession.

"in 2007, the organization received more than 18,000 applications resulting in 2,900 new corps members. These applicants included ‘11 percent of the senior classes at Amherst and Spelman; 10 percent of those at University of Chicago and Duke; and more than eight percent of the graduating seniors at Notre Dame, Princeton and Wellesley.’ " (wikipedia)

The recession has made the TFA hiring process still more competitive, of course.

My d has just started her second year as a corps member in the Metro DC area. It’s true that many applicants are high-performing grads of highly-ranked schools. However, I do think that an applicant with a GPA in the OP’s range would be considered if he or she can show a proven track record as a problem solver - this was one of the essay topics my d had to write on in her application. If you have life experience that indicates you are a creative thinker with an original approach to solving difficult problems, you’re the type of applicant TFA wants to consider.

cutieness, you don’t mention what year you’re in currently. Many schools have TFA recruiting organizations on campus that need undergrads as volunteers. It won’t necessarily improve your chances, but it will give you an understanding of the application process. Is there time to increase your GPA somewhat? That will increase your opportunities everywhere.